Showing posts with label red states. Show all posts
Showing posts with label red states. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Bernie-Brats Need to Stop Dissing the South! - Update with Paul Krugman

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Previous Related Posts
Desperation in Bernie Land
Susan Sarandon Likes Trump Over Hillary
 Bernie Camp Blames Hillary for AZ Loss
Bernie Gives Hillary the Hand of Silence
Polls and Predictions for Hillary and Bernie on Super Tuesday
Hillary Landslide in South Carolina
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Win or Lose, the Bernie camp and rabid followers cannot let go of the fact that Hillary is ahead right now due to winning many of the Southern states on Super Tuesday. It really sticks in their craw that the great Southern base of the Democratic Party has a voice in this election. Bernie fans would rather pretend that a handful of delegates from Idaho, Utah, Washington State are more important the millions of votes already cast in the Southeast and Texas.

Bernie said most recently that the early Southern primaries "distort reality."





UPDATE One: Paul Krugman wrote a great column called "The Pastrami Principle" about why it is rather stupid to insult voters, but also that Bernie is deliberately spinning the "rigged" Southern primaries to give hope where there is no hope, to make his supporters believe he can still win in spite of the delegate math:

Paul Krugman, New York Times
. . . Mrs. Clinton didn’t win big in the South on the strength of conservative voters; she won by getting an overwhelming majority of black voters. This puts a different spin on things, doesn’t it?
Is it possible that Mr. Sanders doesn’t know this, that he imagines that Mrs. Clinton is riding a wave of support from old-fashioned Confederate-flag-waving Dixiecrats, as opposed to, let’s be blunt, the descendants of slaves? Maybe. He is not, as you may have noticed, a details guy.
It’s more likely, however, that he’s being deliberately misleading...
. . . No, claims that Clinton wins in the South should be discounted are really aimed at misleading Sanders supporters, giving them an unrealistic view of the chances that their favorite can still win — and thereby keeping the flow of money and volunteers coming.
. . . But trying to keep his campaign going by misleading his supporters is not O.K. And sneering at millions of voters is truly beyond the pale, especially for a progressive.

UPDATE Two: Bernie blamed Southern voters AGAIN last night during the CNN debate and twitter pushed back:

























Apparently the candidate agrees with many of the stupid theories and myths about the South which are rampant in Bernie-land:

  • The DNC "front-loaded" the primaries with Southern states to favor Hillary.
  • The white "base" in the South reject Bernie because they are old fashioned "conservative Dems" no better than Dixiecrat racists.
  • The black voters of the South are especially singled out for blame in ruining Bernie's chances, which many people of color view as a racist dog whistle.
  • Southern Dems don't matter anyway since they live in red states like South Carolina that won't go for the Democrats in the general election, so why should they get such a large proportion of delegates? 
The Bernie-brats seem incapable of understanding the delegate system on a good day, or the way the Democratic Party works.
  • Southern Dems are just as progressive as Dems anywhere. Think of Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, John Lewis, etc.
  • Dems in red states are outnumbered by Republicans, so their votes are usually cancelled out in the general election. Therefore it is imperative that their voices be heard during Primary Season, and they turned out by the hundreds of thousands. 
  •  Bernie got votes in the South, but Hillary simply got more, and therefore earned more delegates. His surrogates claim now that he never tried to win in the South, but that is smoke and mirrors, with a good bit of sour grapes too.
  •  If Bernie had invested more time and money in southern states, he might have done better, but he won't take responsibility for his own losses, and would rather blame voters.
  • Any student of recent election history can clearly see that the South is the future of the Democratic Party. Demographics are destiny, and states such as Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina, and even Texas will not always be red - it's just a matter of time.

Here is just a small sampling of anti-Southern comments by Bernie and his minions:
















But the Misinformation Train keeps rolling along!





















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Friday, November 20, 2015

GOP Attacks Syrian Refugees After Paris Attacks

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Previous Related Posts:
Paris Attacks Friday Nov. 13, 2015
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Leave it to the Republicans - they can always go lower. And like all bullies, they enjoy finding new victims for their aggression, especially those already suffering, those without a voice, those without a proper home. After the ISIS attack on Paris, the GOP is focused on blaming all Syrian refugees, even mothers and babies, and are hell-bent on keeping them out of red Republican states, even if they have been settled there previous to Paris. Never mind that the guys who blew up Paris were Europeans born and raised, with only one coming into the country with a group of Syrian refugees. No, blame them all, punish them all - who needs facts?

If it smells like Facism and Nazi-ism, then it probably is.





















Haslam rolls back rhetoric after Casada debacle







































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Sunday, November 9, 2014

The Nonsensical Election of 2014

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Many people in the U.S. and around the world are still struggling to understand why a Midterm Election in which only 36% of voters bothered to show up at the polls is being taken as a "Mandate" by the nutty Republicans. If this is just a typical midterm election, then why does it feel as if we've really gone down the rabbit hole this time?

Maybe it's the obvious gloating of the Tea Partiers, who should realize how marginalized they are according to every demographic number, but who thought President Obama should just surrender and impeach himself the day after the election. I guess the fact that Cuckoo-For-Cocoa-Puffs candidates will soon pour into both houses of Congress is giving them the "audacity of hope" that their draconian views are the norm. Why shouldn't they gloat? They turned out the vote, and the Democrats failed miserably.



Maybe we are just outnumbered by the stupids in this country, and we need to accept that.

While cool heads are saying this election was a quirk of red-state geography, gerrymandering, and local elections that pushed hot-button issues, that's no solace to those who voted Blue in a Red State. For instance, in Tennessee it is a fact that a new constitutional amendment to make abortions harder to get failed in the four major cities, thanks to Blue voters. However, it was passed almost as a landslide statewide as if those cities and their Democratic voters didn't even exist. And therein lies a sad truth about why turn-out is so low among Dems in red states - our votes get canceled out, and that leads to voter malaise and low turnout.



We also suffered in Tennessee from a wealthy scandal-proof fence-rider of a Republican governor whose only Democratic opposition was some unknown doofus named, I kid you not, "Charlie Brown." Behold, our state Democratic Party in action. Red state Dems are like orphans in the wilderness these days, and we are outnumbered by crazies.





Same thing in Texas where candidates like Wendy Davis and Letitia Van de Putte couldn't overcome the basic sexism of aging white ranchers, oil men, and the loony misogynist Christians who turned out to vote. What's more astonishing is that women turned out to vote against women candidates too. Another mystery of this election. Where were the "majority" of Dem and Independent women, and why didn't they care?

And then there was Kansas, allegedly a state where the Tea Party had turned their economy upside down, so they were ready to clean house starting with Governor Sam Brownback. Also, Independent Greg Orman was supposed to handily beat the incumbent Senator Pat Roberts, then caucus with the Dems. Except that none of that happened. The polls were all wrong. The people voted for Brownback as if everything was just okey dokey with them. And their absentee Senator, who doesn't even live in Kansas anymore, was re-elected in a landslide. Go figure.

My husband said no one should be suprised that a red state stayed red, but what was all that reporting about? How could everyone be so wrong this time?









Maybe it was delusional on the Dems' part to think states like Georgia or Kentucky - or Texas, a longshot - could be blue in this election, that they would elect a Michelle Nunn or an Alison Lundergan Grimes. But it's just as mysterious that Kentucky re-elected an unpopular guy like Mitch McConnell, while keeping their blue Governor and State Legislature. The popularity of Governors like John Kasich in Ohio, Rick Scott in Florida, and Scott Walker in Wisconsin is a conundrum that cannot be explained easily. Those states had huge "get out the vote" movements, and actually have real Democratic Parties, unlike in Tennessee. Yet it all seemed to make no difference in the end, and I'm sure their Dem voters feel just as puzzled as ever.



Many say that Democratic candidates failed because they "ran away from the President" and from the victory that is Obamacare. But to those of us in Red States who understand swing voters, it seemed logical that the candidates wouldn't want to draw too much attention to Obama or to the unpopular idea of ACA. I think it was a lose-lose situation - damned if they did, damned if they didn't.

Maybe history will explain this election, if we live long enough. Or we can just blame the black President like most of the media. If it really is that simple, and that racist, I just don't want to know.

Maybe we Dems just had too much hope, and got ahead of ourselves, and now we are turning on ourselves and playing the blame game. The fall-out in the Democratic party is already happening. There are calls to throw out Harry Reid as Senate Minority Leader, and toss Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as head of the Democratic Party. The head of the DCCC, Steve Israel, resigned a few days after the election.

All this blaming and firing won't really help us understand the Midterm from Hell, but I guess it will seem like progress. Meanwhile, most Dems are taking time off from the internet, watching Netflix, listening to soothing music and wishing this was all a bad dream.
























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Thursday, November 6, 2014

Election 2014 - Landslide for the GOP

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The Tuesday, November 4th, Midterm Election 2014 was a landslide victory in most states for the Republicans. Mitch McConnell beat Alison Grimes in Kentucky. Rick Scott beat Charlie Crist for the governorship of Florida. Wingnut Cuckoo Joni Ernst won in Iowa, and Kansas re-elected Governor Brownback and stayed firmly Teahadist.

Needless to say, it was a bad night for Democrats everywhere. Optimistic people are using the hashtag #silverlining, but it's rather thin and unsatisfying. My husband suggested #bluelining, but that sounds like a suitcase interior - not that inspirational. The only bright spot is that here in Tennessee we finally got wine in grocery stores, passed almost unanimously by every city and town. No one campaigned against that.

My #silverlining





Just the Facts:















Press Conference and Tweets:



























Senate and Congress and Governors, Oh My



























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Friday, September 5, 2014

Kansas GOP Won't Let Democrat Drop Out of Race

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First Democrat Chad Taylor dropped out of the Kansas Senate Race so that Independent candidate Greg Orman will have a better chance to win. This was heralded as great news by the Democratic Party both locally and nationally, because if he wins, Orman will likely caucus with the Democrats. And let's face it: anyone calling themselves an "Independent" in Kansas might have a better chance to win than either a Democrat or a Republican.

From Kansas.com
In a stunning development, candidate Chad Taylor asked Wednesday that his name be removed from the ballot, paving the way for independent candidate Greg Orman to face U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts head-on in November.
“After much consideration and prolonged discussion with my supporters, my staff, and party leadership at every level, I have decided to end my campaign for the United States Senate,” Taylor said in an exclusive statement to The Eagle.

Chad Taylor supposedly asked the Kansas Attorney General's Office exactly what to do in order to legally withdraw from the Senate race. But once he withdrew, the GOP began to throw stumbling blocks that might thwart the plan out of fear that they will lose the Senate seat. And in order to help their own candidate, the NRSC announced that they were sending in a national advisor to help Senator Pat Roberts shore up a victory.

New York Times
. . . on Thursday, the Kansas secretary of state, Kris Kobach, a Republican, ruled that the Democratic nominee, Chad Taylor, could not withdraw his name from the ballot. Democratic officials said Mr. Taylor would file a legal challenge to the ruling.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is sending Chris LaCivita, who has served as a political troubleshooter in past Republican campaigns, to counsel Mr. Roberts and help oversee his campaign. The committee will also seek to hire a local lawyer in any legal challenge against Mr. Taylor, who had tried to drop off the ballot on the last day candidates were allowed to do so.

This is nowhere near over, however. Taylor is vowing to fight Att. General Kobach to get his name off the ballot. Note: Chris Kobach is a well-known Tea Party Wingnut, completely partisan, and part of the committee to re-elect Pat Roberts.

Talking Points Memo
"I am planning to challenge the ruling of the Kansas Secretary of State," Taylor said in a statement emailed to reporters. He invoked Kobach's membership on incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts' honorary campaign committee and reiterated that he had consulted with a member of Kobach's office before filing his paperwork while announcing the challenge.
It was not immediately clear whether Taylor would file his challenge with a court or the Kansas Objections Board, which covers election issues. But Kobach said earlier Thursday that the board, which is under his authority, would not handle any appeal.

























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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

#SCOTUS Brings Back Jim Crow


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source: @conormcdonough























































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Friday, April 12, 2013

"Accidental Racist" Song a Failure to Communicate

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Racism has been on my mind. Last year, we had some really powerful movies deal with it really well. We had Django [Unchained] and Lincoln, and the media deals with it all the time, and I thought maybe it would be an interesting conversation between country music and rap music to deal with this subject between two individuals in a loving and understanding way.
~ Country Singer Brad Paisley on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno

The song wasn’t perfect. You can’t fit 300 or 400 years of history into a three or four minute song.
Ultimately, I can’t defend the song, but I can clarify my intentions. I in no way would ever compare the history of the Confederate flag with a do-rag. However, when you think about a kid like Trayvon Martin and you think about some of the things that happen in society based on clothing, when you put it in this proper context, it makes sense.
~ LL Cool J to Jay Leno







"Accidental Racist" Lyrics Via The Wrap

Paisley:

To the man that waited on me at the Starbucks down on Main, I hope you understand
When I put on that t-shirt, the only thing I meant to say is I'm a Skynyrd fan
The red flag on my chest somehow is like the elephant in the corner of the south
And I just walked him right in the room
Just a proud rebel son with an 'ol can of worms
Lookin' like I got a lot to learn but from my point of view

I'm just a white man comin' to you from the southland
Tryin' to understand what it's like not to be
I'm proud of where I'm from but not everything we've done
And it ain't like you and me can re-write history
Our generation didn't start this nation
We're still pickin' up the pieces, walkin' on eggshells, fightin' over yesterday
And caught between southern pride and southern blame

They called it Reconstruction, fixed the buildings, dried some tears
We're still siftin' through the rubble after a hundred-fifty years
I try to put myself in your shoes and that's a good place to begin
But it ain't like I can walk a mile in someone else's skin

'Cause I'm a white man livin' in the southland
Just like you I'm more than what you see
I'm proud of where I'm from but not everything we've done
And it ain't like you and me can re-write history
Our generation didn't start this nation
And we're still paying for the mistakes
That a bunch of folks made long before we came
And caught between southern pride and southern blame

Cool J:

Dear Mr. White Man, I wish you understood
What the world is really like when you're livin' in the hood
Just because my pants are saggin' doesn't mean I'm up to no good
You should try to get to know me, I really wish you would
Now my chains are gold but I'm still misunderstood
I wasn't there when Sherman's March turned the south into firewood
I want you to get paid but be a slave I never could
Feel like a new fangled Django, dodgin' invisible white hoods
So when I see that white cowboy hat, I'm thinkin' it's not all good
I guess we're both guilty of judgin' the cover not the book
I'd love to buy you a beer, conversate and clear the air
But I see that red flag and I think you wish I wasn't here

Paisley and Cool J (Cool J in parentheses):

I'm just a white man
(If you don't judge my do-rag)
Comin' to you from the southland
(I won't judge your red flag)
Tryin' to understand what it's like not to be
I'm proud of where I'm from
(If you don't judge my gold chains)
But not everything we've done
(I'll forget the iron chains)
It ain't like you and me can re-write history
(Can't re-write history baby)

Oh, Dixieland
(The relationship between the Mason-Dixon needs some fixin')
I hope you understand what this is all about
(Quite frankly I'm a black Yankee but I've been thinkin' about this lately)
I'm a son of the new south
(The past is the past, you feel me)
And I just want to make things right
(Let bygones be bygones)
Where all that's left is southern pride
(RIP Robert E. Lee but I've gotta thank Abraham Lincoln for freeing me, know what I mean)
It's real, it's real
It's truth

~~~~~~~~~~~~





























The "Accidental Racist" we can work on. It's the "Intentional Racist" we need to eradicate.
~ Raptor2U on Huff Post

Those lyrics are impossible. I cannot believe this song actually exists!
Who the heck thought it was a good idea. . .complaining about how hard racism is. . .for white men? Ooof. I'm incredibly disappointed that LL Cool J chose to participate.
~ Horrible Pourable on Huff Post

They both get to wear the "I'm with stupid" t-shirt.
~ WinkandaNod on Huff Post

I think the purpose of this song is to get people talking. We don't talk to each other because of too much history and uncomfortable situations. We also don't want to listen...I appreciate Brad and LL for at least trying.
~ KimPeach on Huff Post

The performers call for racism to magically heal itself through major chords and willpower. It’s The Secret by way of Tinkerbell.
Paisley doesn’t want to talk to the coffeeshop guy about racism any more than LL wants to talk to white folks about mandatory minimums or systemic disparities in educational outcomes. They each want to know that ‘We’re cool, right bro?’ without actually engaging the ugly substance and legacy of American history. “Accidental Racist” deserves every ounce of clowning it gets...
~ Alan Pyke on Think Progress

Brad Paisley: “We’re still pickin’ up the pieces, walkin’ on eggshells, fightin’ over yesterday”
Nothing says “walkin’ on eggshells” quite like entering a Starbucks with a giant symbol of the institutionalized enslavement of human beings emblazoned on your chest. I wonder what he’d wear if he wasn’t so concerned with politeness!
~ Funny or Die, "The 11 Worst Lines from Accidental Racist"

As Dolly Parton once said (well, I heard her say it at a concert) "What do you get when you mix country and rap? CRAP!"
~ Simone F. on Think Progress

The members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were not racist. However, It was disappointing to learn that they decided to keep the confederate flag after their fans threw a fit.
~ Stacie B. on Think Progress

Whatever the reason, the song itself is a lyrical disgrace filled with awkward non-apologies and faux-pensiveness over the history of racism in the south.
~ Bobby Finger on Hairpin

My only objection to the song, and to the surrounding controversy, is that Brad Paisley says he is merely giving a the "Southern white man's point of view."
Mr. Paisley is from West Virginia, and as someone who was born and raised in Georgia, I resent that he considers himself Southern.
~ Class of '98, Atlanta on New York Times

To claim, as Paisley does, that wearing a confederate flag is actually about being a Lynard Skynyrd fan so we should ignore the dominant meaning, is silly. You can’t wear a swastika and say, “Oh don’t be upset–I’m thinking of the way the Chinese used it before it was appropriated by the Nazis.” That’s not how symbols work.
. . . I wonder if LL was drugged when he wrote and recorded the lyrics, “If you don’t judge my gold chains, I’ll forget the iron chain.” How could he have not recognized that as a possibly career-ending moment that would offend almost all of his fans to the core? He follows with other references to amnesia about a multi-century atrocity that still has a deep impact on America. Let bygones be bygones?
. . . I hope to never hear this horrible song again.
~ Touré on Time Magazine

But does this character exist? When people wear the Confederate flag, are they really surprised or concerned with who might be affected?
"They want to be able to carry the wounds of the Civil War but not the baggage," is how a source in the Nashville music industry described it to me. "They want to hold on to the trappings of the Confederacy but not be held responsible for everything they symbolize. And they're tired of having people make them feel bad for it I don't know if they are so much concerned about racism as they are about being seen as racist."
The lifelong Southerners I spoke to about this said that anyone wearing the flag as an adult in 2013 is fully aware of how it's viewed by others and has made the decision that they're okay with that.
~ Summer Anne Burton on BuzzFeed

The Confederate flag is a banner of hate, plain and simple. People need to do their research before they go around waving it around. And this is coming from a southern white male that was born and raised in Alabama.
~ Judd H. on BuzzFeed

I'm really upset with LL Cool J in this situation. Doesn't he realize what that flag represented to our ancestors? Pure hate. People in the south can be proud and display where they came from without this flag. This song is a cop out.
~ JoannaJ2 on BuzzFeed

. . . early in the song Paisley laments being judged for wearing a T-shirt that features a Confederate flag. He says he's not racist, he's just a "proud rebel son" and Lynyrd Skynyrd fan.
Here's what Paisley fails to realize - the very thing that is a symbol of pride for him is a symbol of oppression for others. The Confederate flag represents a movement that aimed to keep my ancestors in servitude. If that flag flew over our nation's capital today I wouldn't be allowed to read, let alone express myself in this column.
Do I think Paisley is racist? Not at all. But the symbol on his chest is. So yeah, I'm offended.
LL is just as offensive, reciting rhymes like this:
"If you don't judge my gold chains, I'll forget the iron chains," and "If you don't judge my do-rag, I won't judge your red flag."
In a song that hopes to erase stereotypes, LL is essentially glorifying them. Of all the metaphors he could have been used, why did LL go with gold chains and do-rags, the very images blacks have been trying to overcome for decades?
~ Edward Bowser on AL.com

David Graham on The Atlantic
But this is exactly how not to write a song about the Confederate flag. To see the right way, you've got to go back 20 years to the Bottle Rockets. They've got as much southern cred as Paisley -- the band is from Festus, Missouri, they're as likely to have steel guitar on their records as he is, and they write songs about trailer parks, $1000 cars, and Loretta Lynn. In other words, this isn't like Ontario-born Neil Young blasting backward racists in "Southern Man" (though he was right, too, no matter how it infuriated Lynyrd Skynyrd) -- it's a critique from within. Here's how songwriter Brian Henneman handled it in 1993:


Here's the first verse:
Look, here comes another one, 4-wheel drive
Look there in the window, man, sakes alive!
That good ol' boy's waving the stars and bars.
It's a red, white, and blue flag, but it ain't ours.
And the chorus:
Wave that flag high, wave it high,
Do you know what it means, do you know why?
Maybe bein' a rebel ain't no big deal
But if somebody owned your ass, how would you feel?

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